43 out of 47 people found the following review helpful:

mixed views..

Daniel Johnson from london, UK, 23rd May, 2004

I have trouble reviewing films like this. I was really unsure what rating to give this.

It is, without doubt, a very inventive piece of filmmaking from Paul Thomas Andersen.. the characters are well developed and the storylines are interesting. At the beginning you feel a bit confused, but then you realise that the film isn't asking too much of it's audience, you just need to sit back and enjoy the different storylines (some of which collide later on, but not in some important Tarantinoesque way, they just naturally collid).

So, if I was to be a typical film buff I could call this film genius and all the rest of it; but I will restrain myself because the truth is.. I didn't enjoy it enough.

The film is 2hr 54mins long.. after two hours it does start to drag; despite the nine different stories going on. I'd say the first two hours are very very good, very original (well, maybe.. it does afterall steal quite heavily from Altman's 'Short Cuts') and entertaining.. but towards the end it just seems to try and be a bit too deep. The character arcs are a bit too blatent and the audience is force-fed this emotional journey of self-discovery within the characters. These moments of self-realisation could have been a little bit more subtle. I mean- anyone who is truly enjoying 'Magnolia' is going to be a film fan who can intelligently read the text- therefore there's no need to turn to a layman piece of filmmaking near the end. Unfortunately, it did.. and that bothers me. It bothers me because i'd already sat there for over two hours and I thought the film was the greatest thing ever.. and then it dipped quite strongly.

That's just my opinion. By all means- see it, make up your own minds.. afterall any film by this writer-director is always going to be worth seeing.

dan
dj152@aol.com

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26 out of 28 people found the following review helpful:

I want those Three Hours Back

Sam Duthie from Northampton, England, 28th January, 2007

This film was dull, much too long and extremely unrewarding. I felt really let down by the pretentious ending. There are some good moments to this film of course but when the credits dawned I felt cheated out of three long gruelling hours. Don't believe the hype!

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24 out of 30 people found the following review helpful:

Modern masterpiece.

A Customer from London, 6th February, 2004

A masterpiece of modern cinema from director PT Anderson, DoP Robert Elswitt and the ensemble cast.

Technically outstanding, visually stunning, superbly acted - there are not enough superlatives to throw at this film.

I would not trust anyone who does not like this film or is not moved by the Aimee Mann inspired 'Wise Up' sequence.

Breathtaking and innovative filmmaking on the grandest scale. If you enjoy this, also check out Anderson's little known gem of a debut 'Hard Eight'.

'We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us'

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21 out of 23 people found the following review helpful:

Wonderful

Roy Martin from London, 20th February, 2005

I don't know about you but I have a simple way of judging a film, music or art. If it makes me feel something it's a job well done. Magnolia does this for me. All of the characters, compromised in some way or another, meander through a set of circumstances until the films conclusion with the soundtrack of Amy Manns voice and guitar washing over the life of each one of them in the film. Remember the first time you walked down the street listening to your walkman and the whole landscape changes.That's what happens here. I had an overwelming empathy for all the characters in this and follow the careers of Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Juliane Moore since this because the acting was outstanding. If you watched Donnie Darko and can honestly say that, not understanding it ruined everything, then don't watch this film. If you consult a book everytime you have a strange dream because you need to understand everything about it,don't watch this film. If, like me you enjoy life, stranger than fiction, then rent this immediately. It changed my life, a little. Wonderful and inspiring.

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Possibly the best film ever made.

A Customer from Isle of Man, 7th March, 2010

Incredible. Possibly the best film ever made and certainly of recent times. Don't listen to negative reviews. They are idiots. Amazing.

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Memorable, not necessarily for the right reasons

monkquixote from , 1st March, 2010

Like many other reviewers have noted, this film is ambitious, overlong, and a little self-indulgent. On the other hand, it has Tom Cruise in his worst haircut ever shouting 'Respect the cock' repeatedly, which makes it a very hard film to dislike. Julianne Moore is superb, as ever, and the rest of an amazing ensemble cast hold the sprawling narrative together - just - as various interleaving stories are pulled together covering a very non-average day in Los Angeles. If you weren't unhappy at the beginning of the film, you will be by the end, as disfunctional person after disfunctional person messes up, breaks down, gets shot or generally feels sorry for themselves. It is however, brilliant at times - the actors wring every ounce of emotion out of the moments that they have on screen. It's emotionally hard to care about that many characters, and the stories intersect a little too neatly in some ways. So watch it for the acting masterclass, rather than any great statements about life, the universe or indeed, cock.

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Boring!

Sharon123 from , 22nd January, 2010

Switched this one off after 1 hr, good film to put you to sleep though :)

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Cult film or not?

A Customer from Huddersfield, 5th January, 2010

This film is extremely long and no one smiles. The begining is brilliant - great use of black comedy. Then they forgot to include the comedy. I want my 3 hours and 8 minutes back!

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